Associated PressIvan Johnson earned a spot in the Hawks' roster with his physical play.

Ivan Johnson knows
there's a fire inside of him that can lead him astray, or that can be channeled
into something positive.

This season, he has found a most
positive avenue, landing a spot in the NBA as a reserve forward on the Atlanta
Hawks.

At 27, after four years of
toiling in the NBA Development and in such places as Puerto Rico and South
Korea, Johnson took his fiery mentality
– the one that he lost control of at times at the University of Oregon – and
used it fuel the physical play that earned him a spot on the Hawks'
veteran-laden roster.

"Playing basketball comes
easy, comes natural," the soft-spoken Johnson said. "It was the emotional part
I had to get right."

Hawks coach Larry Drew said
he first noticed Johnson's physical play at a mini-camp the team held before
the lockout. Drew was impressed enough to invite the 6-foot-8, 230-pound Johnson
to the Hawks main training camp once the lockout ended.

"I just thought it would be
good to bring in a guy like that to beat up on our veteran players," Drew said.
"He's a physical guy, he plays with no fear, and he has a motor. That was
something that intrigued me to want to invite him back to our veterans' camp."

Johnson made the Hawks'
opening-day roster, then started to get minutes after the team was hit by a
series of injuries to its big men.

"I had not planned on playing
him much, but we were a little depleted in losing Al Horford and Jason Collins,
so he had to play some minutes," Drew said. "And he played really well for us."

Johnson has appeared in 25
games and is averaging 5.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in 14.5 minutes. When called
upon to play longer stretches, he has produced, and has two double-doubles.
Unlike other players who started the season with non-guaranteed contracts, there
was no question the Hawks would keep him past Feb. 10, the date when all
non-guaranteed contracts became guaranteed for the remainder of the season.

"It wasn't any doubt whether
we were going to keep him or guarantee him," Drew said. "He certainly deserved
it."

Johnson has seen a surge
in interview requests this past week. A native of San Antonio, he did an
interview with a newspaper there. When the Hawks were in Los Angeles, a writer
from San Bernardino – where he completed his college career at Division II Cal
State San Bernardino – showed up to do a story.

On Saturday, at the Hawks'
morning shootaround at the Rose Garden before they played the Blazers, Johnson
did two interviews, including one that brought him back to his time in Eugene.
Jordan Kent, a TV host and reporter for Comcast Sports Net Northwest, interviewed Johnson. They were teammates in 2005-06, when both played for Kent's father, Ernie
Kent.

The Ducks had hoped that
Johnson, who played at two junior colleges before arriving in Eugene in 2005,
would give them some much-needed size and inside physical play to
complement future NBA players Aaron Brooks and Malik Hairston. But Johnson's
time in Eugene was tumultuous, with academic issues and problems with his
temper, which included shouting matches with coaches. After the 2005-06
season, Ernie Kent kicked Johnson out of
the program.

How does Johnson regard his
time in Eugene? He paused 10 seconds when asked.

"I would say it was a good
experience," he said, before pausing again, then adding, "I wish I would have
controlled my emotions a long time ago. It is what it is."

Johnson added that he has no
ill feelings toward anyone from his Oregon stint. "It was a stepping-stone" to
where his career would go, he said.

Johnson said he never lost
faith in himself during his minor-league travels – which included stints on two
D-League teams, two teams in South Korea and one in Puerto Rico.

"I felt like it actually
helped me, learning in other leagues about controlling my temper with other
referees and seeing how other players played," he said.

As Johnson goes through his first tour of
the NBA, he admits there are times he is star-struck, but knows he can't go up
to Kobe Bryant or LeBron James to get an autograph, even if he wants to. They
are now his colleagues.

But, even at 27, he is still
a rookie, the only one on Atlanta's roster. As the Hawks started filing out of Saturday's
shootaround, Johnson excused himself from an interview, saying, "I gotta go do
my rookie duties, man."